_Zillah_. Oh, God! who loving, making, blessing all, Yet didst permit the Serpent to creep in, And drive my father forth from Paradise, 20 Keep us from further evil:--Hail! All Hail! _Adam_. Son Cain! my first-born--wherefore art thou silent? _Cain_. Why should I speak? _Adam_. To pray. _Cain_. Have ye not prayed? _Adam_. We have, most fervently. _Cain_. And loudly: I Have heard you. _Adam_. So will God, I trust. _Abel_. Amen! _Adam_. But thou my eldest born? art silent still? _Cain_. 'Tis better I should be so. _Adam_. Wherefore so? _Cain_. I have nought to ask. _Adam_. Nor aught to thank for? _Cain_. No. _Adam_. Dost thou not _live_? _Cain_. Must I not die? _Eve_. Alas! The fruit of our forbidden tree begins 30 To fall. _Adam_. And we must gather it again. Oh God! why didst thou plant the tree of knowledge? _Cain_. And wherefore plucked ye not the tree of life? Ye might have then defied him. _Adam_. Oh! my son, Blaspheme not: these are Serpent's words. _Cain_. Why not? The snake spoke _truth_; it _was_ the Tree of Knowledge; It _was_ the Tree of Life: knowledge is good, And Life is good; and how can both be evil? _Eve_. My boy! thou speakest as I spoke in sin, Before thy birth: let me not see renewed 40 My misery in thine. I have repented. Let me not see my offspring fall into The snares beyond the walls of Paradise, Which even in Paradise destroyed his parents. Content thee with what _is_. Had we been so, Thou now hadst been contented.--Oh, my son! _Adam_. Our orisons completed, let us hence, Each to his task of toil--not heavy, though Needful: the earth is young, and yields us kindly Her fruits with little labour. _Eve_. Cain--my son-- 50 Behold thy father cheerful and resigned-- And do as he doth. [_Exeunt_ ADAM _and_ EVE. _Zillah_. Wilt thou not, my brother? _Abel_. Why wilt thou wear this gloom upon thy brow, Which can avail thee nothing, save to rouse The Eternal anger? _Adah_. My belovéd Cain Wilt thou frown even on me?